The northwest Spanish town of La Coruña posted a lost-and-found notice this week that has captured the world's attention.

It read:

"FOUND: A lottery ticket bought more than a year ago, which entitles the owner to an unclaimed $6.3 million jackpot."
"LOST: The ticket's owner."
Manuel Reija Gonzalez found the unclaimed lottery ticket from 2012 in a lost property box at the lottery kiosk where he worked.
Its worth: 4.7-million euro.
Instead of claiming it for himself, the honest man turned it into authorities.

"I never for a moment thought about keeping it because I wanted to be able to sleep well at night with a clear conscience," Gonzalez told the BBC.
"Because here was somebody who had a problem forgetting his ticket and I put myself in his shoes, and it's the sort of thing I could have done. I thought the best thing to do was just to return the ticket," he added.
According to the newspaper La Voz, someone bought the ticket with the winning numbers 10, 17, 24, 37, 40 and 43 from a shopping centre in Galicia, Spain, but managed to misplace it.
Gonzalez assumed the ticket, which was not purchased at his kiosk, fell out of someone's wallet.
When he ran the numbers, he was shocked to learn of the huge jackpot.
"I couldn't believe it the first time I checked the ticket! So I ran it through the machine again just in case there was a computer error," he told reporters. "I was standing up, but I had to sit down. I almost broke the chair, I was so flustered!"
If the ticket's owner isn't identified in the next two years, the millions will go to Gonzalez.
"For the first time we're looking for a millionaire, not because we want money from them, but because we want to give it to them," the mayor of La Coruña, Carlos Negreira, said on Monday.
Negreira said he'll buy Gonzalez a beer in two years if the good Samaritan gets to keep the fortune.

"He found something that wasn't his, and did the right thing to try to find who it belongs to," Negreira said. "He's a good example for our citizens who believe in justice."
Six people have already tried to claim the prize, NPR reported, but none of them were able to prove ownership: specific knowledge of when and where the ticket was purchased.

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. — Apparently, honesty does pay, especially in the case of a homeless man in Boston.

Glen James found a bag with $40,000 in cash and travelers checks lost in a shopping center parking lot earlier this week. He turned it over to police and it was ultimately returned to its rightful owner.

The good deed is certainly not going unnoticed. Hundreds of miles away in Midlothian, Virginia, a complete stranger heard James’ tale and decided to take action.

“People like this they should be heard. Their spirit should be spread,” said Ethan Whittington. “He just seems like the type of person of never thinking of taking the money. He just had good intentions from the start.”

With a few strokes of the keyboard, the 27-year-old marketing director, who has never laid eyes on James, established an account for the 54-year-old on GoFundMe.com.

Whittington said his intentions were modest and he wanted to raise a few hundred bucks for a well-deserving man down on his luck.

“It kind of restores your faith in humanity, especially being inundated with the negative media on a daily basis,” Whittington said.

But Whittington’s humble idea has gone viral. Within just a few days, the total has jumped to over $117,000.

Brother and sister Thomas and Anna Ziljan are donating their hard-earned allowance to the cause.

“I wanted to buy him a house,” said Anna. “But it was too expensive so I’m donating my money.”

Whittington said he has been floored by the generosity of donors and when and if the fundraising ends, he said all the money belongs to James.

Whittington’s ultimate goal is to raise $250,000 for the good Samaritan he’s never met.

“The biggest thing is that I want this to be a positive influence on Glen,” he said. “This is the way we should be all of the time. You know I think it would make the world a better place.”

Whittington said he plans to fly to Boston in the coming weeks to meet James. He said he will shake his hand and give him a big hug.

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

Because Online Friends Make a Real Difference
"My 4-year-old son, Cole, has lymphoma. I've gotten a lot of support from the women at CafeMom.com, but one mom, Linda, is amazing. For Cole's birthday she got people from all over the country to send him cards. The response was overwhelming. With a sick child every smile is precious, so I'll always be grateful for these moments of joy."
-- Michelle, Sacramento, California

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

The Home Depot Throws Awesome Birthday Party for Deserving 5-Year-Old Boy

The workers at the Home Depot are known for being experts in painting, drilling, and hammering. Well, you can now add party planning to that list. Here's what happened.

Five-year-old Joshua Hagerty, from Modesto, California, asked his mother for a birthday party at his favorite place, the Home Depot. Joshua suffers from multiple physical ailments, including heart and kidney problems, for which he has had 15 surgeries so far in his short lifetime. His mother, Jennifer, contacted the Home Depot to see if she could pick up workshop sets to have the Home Depot-themed party at her home.

Store manager Kevin Baum called her back to say they would take it a step further. The employees threw Joshua a birthday party at their store, complete with balloons, Lego sets, goody bags, workshop kits, and even a hammer-shaped cake. Employees pitched in with their own money to fund the party and gifts to make Joshua's birthday dreams come true. At the end of the day, the grateful guest of honor said it was his "best birthday ever."

The reason this story has gotten the public's attention is not because of the Home Depot; it is because Jennifer has asked for help to thank the store and its employees. Here's our part to help — thank you to Home Depot store #6601 of Modesto! You guys rock!http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/RqK...2b4dc_FULL.png

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

PARAMEDIC TERRY HOBEN, 37
In a hurricane's wake, he ferries neighbors to safety

After wrapping up a brutal 17-hour shift Sept. 17 at a hospital in Newark, N.J., paramedic Terry Hoben thought he'd take a look at what Hurricane Floyd had left behind before he headed home. Entering downtown Bound Brook, where he lives with his wife, Sally, 45, and their two children, Hoben found chaos. Floodwaters from the Raritan River had risen more than 10 feet on Main Street, inundating homes, shorting out power lines and setting off fires. "It was hysteria at that point," recalls Hoben. "There were fire trucks running all over the place, state police were arriving with boats, 10 to 12 feet of water." And the water was still rising.

Spotting a friend, police Lt. Steven Cozza, Hoben asked how he could help. Cozza urged him to get home as fast as he could, put his fishing boat into the water and start emptying houses. Soon after, in the 16-foot skiff he had left parked on a trailer in his driveway, Hoben teamed up with officer Diana Paczkowski and pushed off into the eerie landscape of half-submerged buildings in search of stranded residents. "You put 16 feet of water on an area you usually walk around, and you can't recognize a thing," says Hoben. "We were scared to death." Adds Paczkowski, 29: "I'm not an avid water lover, first of all."

Navigating fast-running murky waters where familiar streets once lay, the two were soon hard at work. Taking aboard babies and children first, they plucked whole families from upper floors, attics and even rooftops where they had sought safety. Hoben sometimes entered a house where residents had been reluctant to leave or were waiting for the waters to subside. But water wasn't the only worry. The floods had risen to the point that Hoben and his passengers had to duck beneath high-voltage power lines, some of them still surging with current. And in one area a gas main had broken. Hoben carefully eased his boat along, hoping nothing would set off the potentially lethal fumes. "A mistake could not just have cost my life or Diana's, but the 8 or 10 people in the boat," he explains.

He and Paczkowski made nearly 50 trips over 13 hours, taking people to safety. Mary Anne Baloy, 42, remembers him well. She, her husband, Roger, 39, and their three children thought they could wait out the flood. Then it rose to their first-floor ceiling and kept on climbing. In the distance, she says, "you heard people screaming." When Hoben and another team of rescuers arrived, he lifted Baloy's kids into his boat. "It was incredible what they did," she says. "I have no idea how to repay them." But Hoben says he was just one of many residents and police officers who helped that night. "My town was in trouble," he says. "And this disaster pulled this community together."

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

More than twice a month, on average, those who've lost all hope come to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, climb over the railing and, tragically, plunge 220 feet into the Pacific Ocean to end their pain.

That number would be higher, if not for California Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Briggs, nicknamed the "Guardian of the Golden Gate." Since 1994, through sheer compassion and expert listening skills, Sgt. Briggs has helped convince more than 200 people on the precipice of death not to take their lives (so far, he's only lost one).

"People who come to jump don't necessarily want to die," explains Briggs, 50, who calmly introduces himself just a few feet away to the despondent person, often standing for hours in bone-chilling wind or heavy fog.

"I try to find out what brought them to this point," says Briggs, a cancer survivor and father of two boys. "If I can get them to break down, that's a good sign, it shows they're listening and thinking. If someone says they have no plan for tomorrow, I say, 'OK, let's make one.' "

"Sgt. Briggs not only saves lives, he inspires us all with his compassion and dedication," says Robert Gebbia, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention director. "He's a true American hero."

In March 2005, Kevin Berthia, then 22, a former postal worker who'd battled lifelong depression and was overwhelmed as a new father, was about to jump when Briggs, who happened to be passing by, spotted him.

"I know you must be in tremendous pain," Briggs told him. "If you want to talk, I'm here to listen."

It was a life-changing moment for Berthia.

"Sgt. Briggs got me to open up about stuff I'd never dealt with before, like not knowing my real parents," says Berthia, an adoptee, who now takes medication for depression. "He made me realize we're all here for a purpose, and life is about finding just what that purpose is. I owe every bit of my second chance to him."

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

As he headed out at dawn last June off the coast of Cornwall, England, fisherman Shaun Curnow of the village of St. Keverne was hoping for a standard day's haul of 500 pounds of mackerel. Instead, as he scanned the sea a quarter-mile offshore, he spotted a disturbance in the water. "The gulls were really going in on something," says Curnow. "I could see this little brown blob. I thought it was a bit of driftwood at first."

But it wasn't. As Curnow pulled his 19-ft. fishing boat, the Bold Venture, toward the scene, he made out an object moving against the tide. "As soon as I saw the antlers, I knew what it was," he says. " 'That's a blinkin' deer!' " After several attempts to pull alongside the flailing animal, Curnow finally managed to grab hold of the exhausted creature and haul him over the side. "He was huffing and puffing and panting," says Curnow, who offered the deer a bit of a Kit Kat bar. "He kept looking at me, and he was a sad little thing." Onshore in 20 minutes, Curnow, who had radioed ahead, was met by local veterinarian David Cromey, who examined the winded but healthy 3-year-old male—which weighed in at 65 lbs.—and later released him into the nearby woods.

To date no one in St. Keverne, where few deer are ever seen, has been able to explain how the hapless animal wound up in the sea. But his rescue briefly made Curnow, a divorced father of two, a national celebrity. "They were all ready for big brown eyes and a story with a happy ending," says Cromey. "And that's what they got."

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

fter several attempts to pull alongside the flailing animal, Curnow finally managed to grab hold of the exhausted creature and haul him over the side. "He was huffing and puffing and panting," says Curnow, who offered the deer a bit of a Kit Kat bar. "He kept looking at me, and he was a sad little thing." Onshore in 20 minutes, Curnow, who had radioed ahead, was met by local veterinarian David Cromey, who examined the winded but healthy 3-year-old male—which weighed in at 65 lbs.—and later released him into the nearby woods.

Who knew a deer would eat a Kit Kat bar! That's an ad in the making! I bet that's one buck who will never go for an ocean swim again!

I wasn’t as spry as I used to be, but I liked to walk, rather than drive, around my small town. Shopping, the doctor’s office, the bank were all nearby, clustered around a busy five-way intersection that connected to the thruway.

Seeing the traffic as I strolled back home, I was glad to be on foot.

Then I heard a growl. A dog—not looking quite right—stalked toward me. I backed up. Grrrrr! A snarl from behind. I nearly jumped out of my skin. At my heels was a second dog, as angry as the first. Oh, no, I’ve stepped in the middle of something....

We have strict leash laws in California, but no owner was in sight—no one except the people driving by. I knew I wouldn’t get far trying to run. “Nice doggie...” I whispered.

From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a black car exiting the thruway. Shiny like it had just come from the dealer’s lot. It suddenly stopped on the opposite side of the street. A tall, slender man stepped out and calmly crossed the street toward me, dodging the slowing cars without a second glance.

“Go home!” he commanded the dogs. “Go home!”

The dogs turned tail and ran. The man headed back to his car.

I shouted after him, but he didn’t seem to hear over the traffic noise. He got in his car, started it and drove out of sight.

A black car? I wondered. Shouldn’t it have been angel white?

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

Barb Bratvold's First-Graders Send Get Well Cards to Thousands of Strangers

One week after Donna O'Malley's 23-year-old son died last February, the retired Montevideo, Minn., nursing-home worker found a large manila envelope stuffed inside her mailbox.

Inside were 15 handmade sympathy cards from a group of first-graders O'Malley had never met.

"We're so sorry about your loss," read one card in a crooked scrawl, covered with pink and purple hearts.

"We care about you," read another, embellished with rainbows and a smiling sun.

O'Malley wept as she sifted through the stack of cards, savoring each message.

"It touched my heart that these young kids took the time to think about me and my son," she says. "I still have the cards on display in my sun room. I'll treasure them forever."

O'Malley is among 50,000 people who have lost loved ones, are ill or just need to know someone cares who have received surprise packages from the Kindness Club at Evansville Elementary, a student charity started in 1995 by teacher Barb Bratvold.

Bratvold had assigned her students to make get-well cards for a guest speaker who became ill shortly after visiting their class.

The kids enjoyed the project so much, she says, that they asked if they could continue making cards for others in the community who needed cheering up.

Whenever anybody in Evansville, Minn., learns about a friend or relative going through a tough time, they know to tell the Kindness Club, says Hallie Richter, 6.

"I like to write 'I love you' on all of my cards and decorate them with lots of stickers," says the first-grader. "I hope they help people to get better faster."

Meeting twice a week, "the Kindness Club is a way to teach my kids that the world isn’t all about them, there are people out there who are hurting," adds Bratvold, 57.

"Even though they’re only in first grade, this is a way they can make a difference," she says.

She recalls the story of one boy who initially didn’t want to make cards for people he didn’t know until he came to school one day in tears.

His favorite babysitter had been killed in a car accident.

"He spent a lot of time making a beautiful sympathy card," recalls Bratvold, "then he delivered all of the students' cards to the family."

After he saw how much it meant to her family, he always wanted to participate.

"Those are the kind of lessons I hope stay with my students," she says.

"I always tell my kids, 'Once you're a member of the Kindness Club, you're a lifetime member,' " she says. "I'm hoping that they'll still be making cards when they’re 99."

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

Rescued pit bull helps 4 year old with hypoglycemia

(source: Fox News, where I was looking for something else - but I found this!)

Less than a week after rescuing a pit bull that would have been put down, a Minnesota mother says the dog returned the favor by detecting a dangerous drop in her son's blood sugar and rescuing the young boy from a life-threatening situation, Fox 9 News reported.

Christi Smith took in TaterTot just hours before he was scheduled to be put down by Minneapolis Animal Care and Control. She planned to foster the four-legged friend until she could find him a permanent home, but she says he's already become family for good.

When watching Peyton Anderson play with his dog, it's clear the two have a special bond -- but Smith didn't know how special that bond was until last week when the pooch alerted her that the 4-year-old was not well in the middle of the night.

Although the 10-month-old pit bull rescue had only been in her home for a few days, TaterTot quickly sensed something was wrong and began licking and jumping on the boy when he wouldn't wake up.

"He kept on whining and barking and running between the two of us," she told Fox 9 News. "I checked on him, and he was barely breathing."

After rushing her son to the emergency room, doctors ran a battery of tests to discover the boy's blood sugar was dangerously low.

"If his blood sugar was that low, he may have been producing ketones," explained Isis Sanchez, of Blue Pearl Veterinary Clinic. "That may have been what the dog picked up on."

Sanchez said TatorTot's keen sense of smell likely helped him realize the change in Peyton's body.

"What, for us, is barely a whiff of something gives them a huge picture of what's going on," she said.

Aside from smell, Sanchez said dogs may also have a sort of "sixth sense" that can detect changes in electrical activity, which is how some dogs may be able to warn people with epilepsy that a seizure may be looming.

"Doggie heroes come in all sizes," she said.

I've been Boo'd... right off the stage!

Aaahh, I have been defrosted! Thank you, Bonny and Asiel!
Brrrr, I've been Frosted! Thank you, Asiel and Pomtzu!

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

People Pets The Daily Treat: Boy and Miniature Horse Became Best Friends Over Shared Disability

Nothing brings two individuals together like common ground – and that's exactly what happened in the case of miniature horse Judd and Tyler Cribbs.

Judd was born at the Capital Area Therapeutic Riding Association in Grantville, Pa., two months ago with a condition that prevents him from supporting his own weight without splints. The association offers horseback riding as therapy to patients with disabilities, but in the case of Judd, the organization was faced with an opportunity to do the opposite.

"It's our turn to give therapy back," CATRA's Ben Nolt told local station WHTM, adding, "There are horses who have had this in the past and recovered normally. We're sort of a wait and see."

While undergoing physical therapy, Judd has become an inspiration to local children, like Cribbs, who also requires splints to stand.

"[Judd] uses them the same way Tyler uses them to strengthen his legs," said his mother, Heather Cribbs. "For Tyler to have an animal that is akin to him, it helps him want to do better because he sees the animal strengthened by the braces."

Though CATRA is committed to helping Judd recover, the cost of his care, which ranges from X-rays to bandage changes, is growing day by day. For those interested in lending a hand, click here http://www.catra.net/Judd.htm to visit the donation page for Judd's treatment.

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

Rebecca Welsh was volunteering in orphanages in Honduras in 2002 when she had an eye-opening encounter with a child living on the streets.

"A 6-year-old little girl stopped me and begged me for water," she says. "She travelled in a pack of about ten children and was the youngest in the group."

She soon found out the children, who couldn't get shelter in the city's overflowing orphanages, slept on cardboard boxes at night and dug through trash to find their next meal.

"I just couldn't believe that was going on and I'd never even heard of it," she says.

That encounter – and her work at the orphanages where she used art to create a bond with the kids – led to her forming the HALO Foundation (Helping Art Liberate Orphans) in 2005.

The nonprofit has raised more than $2 million to buy food, shelter, education, water and clothes for 3,000 kids in 11 orphanages around the world.

"I really want to give these kids a chance to live a normal life," says Welsh, 34, who lives in Kansas City, Mo., "and have food and all their basic needs met because they deserve it."

She auctions off the childrens' artwork to raise money for the foundation; something that started after Welsh got inundated with artwork the orphans sent her as a thank you.

"I thought the best way to share their work was to showcase it," she says, "and raise funds that would go back to the children at the same time."

It worked.

"The average kid's piece now sells for around $500," she says. "That amount provides dinner for an entire orphanage for 50 nights."

The foundation also operates learning centers in two cities in the United States, including Kansas City, to help foster children and other at-risk youth learn life skills and help them heal through art therapy.

"I think anyone who puts time and energy into improving the lives of kids is wonderful," says Sister Berta Sailer, co-founder of Operation Breakthrough, which provides child care and other social services for the working poor in Kansas City.

"I think it's so important the kids everywhere feel valued," says Sailer, who has worked with Welsh's foundation on a few projects in Kansas City, "and have their needs met and activities designed for them."

Kiki, 13, who started coming to Welsh's Kansas City center in 2010 after two years of being homeless, can attest to that.

"It helped me to become a better leader," she says, "and to learn how to talk to people in a better way."

Kiki says her favorite part is Interplay, where kids use dance and song to express their feelings.

"We dance and sing and yell and let out a lot of feelings, like anger," she says. "I feel relaxed and tired afterward."

Welsh says she still gets a thrill when she hears a story like this.

"It makes me feel like my purpose in life is fulfilled," she says. "I know this is what I'm here to do. I feel very blessed."

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa